Latest Articles

Fin-ished

By virtue of its name, the whale shark summons a ferocious mental image, something along the lines of Moby Dick meets Jaws. But in reality, the creature is a gentle, slow-moving fish. Unfortunately for the species, that means whale sharks are easily captured by fishers, who chop off their fins to supply a hungry Asian […]

Spoilers-r-us

If there had been any doubt that the U.S. would play the role of pariah at the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, it was banished yesterday when White House officials announced their goals and strategies for the meeting, which begins next week in Johannesburg, South Africa. The U.S. delegation’s plan is, essentially, to stonewall: […]

Corn Bawl

In a slap in the face to the bioengineering industry, the government of Zambia has rejected thousands of tons of genetically modified corn offered as food aid to the starving nation. Instead, the country will buy conventional corn from Kenya and Tanzania, according to Zambian Finance Minister Emmanuel Kasonde. Kasonde declined to say how much […]

Backdraft

Citing the need to reduce fire danger after a season of devastating wildfires, President Bush is planning to propose more extensive thinning of Western forests and support legislation to streamline environmental rules that have slowed down some logging projects in the region. Most Western governors back the plan to thin forests, but environmental groups say […]

The Oriente Express

Native residents of the rainforests of Ecuador and Peru were dealt a blow late last week when the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied their petition to reopen litigation against the oil giant ChevronTexaco for devastating their environment and exposing them to carcinogenic pollutants. The court upheld an earlier ruling, which found that two […]

Putting Their Lives on the Lime

Hoping to halt a limestone mining plan that would destroy 15,000 acres of wetlands in the Florida Everglades, environmentalists sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday. The Corps has issued permits to mine 1.7 billion tons of limestone from Everglades wetlands for roads in southern Florida, despite its own findings that the mining would […]

Animal Crackers

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s highest scientific authority, has issued a long-awaited report cautioning that genetic manipulation of animals could pose a serious threat to the environment and human health. The report identifies a series of concerns about cloning and other genetic alteration of animals, ranging from fears that such animals could […]

Unable Was I, Ere I Saw Elbe

As if being battered by severe storms wasn’t enough, Central and Eastern Europe now face another threat: pollution unleashed by heavy flooding. In addition to concerns about contamination and disease from animal carcasses swept along by the floods, fears are now growing that toxic chemicals could be seeping from an inundated Czech chemical plant and […]

Shell Game?

In addition to the environmentalists, politicians, and scientists who will gather next week in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, another constituency will be amply represented — business interests. Many high-profile companies plan to use the summit to burnish their environmental images and make the case that principles and profits can […]

News Fit to Print

And speaking of the World Summit on Sustainable Development — in preparation for the commencement of the event, the New York Times devoted today’s Science section to coverage of international environmental issues. From the impact of human behavior on the global ecosystem to the economics of renewable energy; from reassessing international population growth to our […]